Ole Miss' Remarkable 2016 National Signing Day Deserves More Respect

When Ole Miss landed a Top 10 recruiting class three years ago, it had the feeling of a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. It turns out it was a twice-in-four-years event.

Despite matching Alabama and Georgia with three 5-star signees, the most of any school in the country, the Rebels' 2016 class has managed to go under the radar. They finished sixth in 247Sports' composite rankings, one spot better than the epic 2013 class which featured Robert Nkemdiche, Laquon Treadwell and Laremy Tunsil.

"I do think it's our most complete class," Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze told Scout.com (h/t USA Today).

And that class comes at just the right time, since the aforementioned stars all turned pro after helping the Rebels to a 10-win season, their first since 2003. Ole Miss associate athletics director for media and public relations Kyle Campbell made note of the university's recent success landing highly touted prospects: 

Ole Miss landed the nation's top offensive tackle (Greg Little), the top pro-style quarterback (Shea Patterson) and six other high school players who were among the top six at their respective position. That included a pair of recruits who picked the Rebels on Wednesday in memorable fashion.

Deontay Anderson, a 4-star safety from Manvel, Texas, teamed up with Bleacher Report to announce his commitment while skydiving. The stunt surprised Freeze, according to the Associated Press' David Brandt:

Then 4-star receiver A.J. Brown opted for the Rebels over his hometown Mississippi State, giving them four of the state's top seven prospects.

They missed on 5-star defensive end Jeffery Simmons, losing him to Mississippi State, but otherwise signing day proved to be a rousing success—just not one that drew much attention outside of Oxford.

"It will be viewed as the best class in the country three or four years from now," Bleacher Report's Barrett Sallee said. “It's simply an amazing class top-to-bottom in terms of short-term fixes and long-term need.”

The strong haul also comes in the wake of reports that Ole Miss has received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA "alleging roughly 30 violations in football, women’s basketball and track and field," according to Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde. SB Nation reported that no more than five of the allegations are related to football, and many are more than two years old, but Freeze said that didn't stop other schools from trying to use that news against Ole Miss.

"The storms came and they came in a variety of ways from the different coaching staffs to media to social media," Freeze said, per Christopher Smith of Saturday Down South. "Our relationships won out in the end, which makes me even more grateful to those families who chose to stay with us."

Little committed in December, while Patterson and 5-star defensive tackle Benito Jones were among eight early enrollees, so most of Ole Miss' work was done before Wednesday. The key additions it made added to an already strong class, but not to the point where it stood out from the pack.

This gave the impression the program hadn't done much this recruiting cycle, when in actuality the Rebels did arguably more than ever before.

Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports unless otherwise noted.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.